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roasted banana buckwheat coffee cake with hemp streusel crunch

I hope you find this recipe as easy and divine as it truly is. Don’t get hung up on the roasting, the sifting, or the 1/2’s and 1/3’s… lots of baking recipes that read as complex are actually just a series of simple steps you can do while your waiting for peaks to stiff, or the oven to come to temp, etc. Also sifting flour is an easy way to get lovely fluffy cakes and muffins. and stopping to scrap your mixer bowl and incorporating ingredient slowly while balancing wet and dry is the best way to get results which will make you happy every time.

About 5 years ago I made some roasted banana and nut spring rolls (which I should revisit as they were unreal) It turned out though that I ran out of spring roll wrappers and had a couple cups of roasted banana nut puree left over which I whipped into a banana bread. Once I did that, there was no going back for me, I have never made banana bread again without first roasting the bananas. What a delicious way to add a deep complex flavor to a baked goodie!

Enough though about all of that, lets talk about this lovely buckwheat cake! This recipe is adapted from a cinnamon streusel coffee cake recipe I love from the Art & Soul of Baking. My variation (as usual) is made with ancient grains and almond butter laced with the caramel wisps of fresh dates and a hint of cocoa. Lots of people think they don’t like dates, but in a loaf like this, the soft flesh of the dates turn magically into little layers of sweet caramel waves. Bring on the date haters… they too will love this!

Start by peeling 2-3 overripe organic bananas, left whole and set in the prepared pan you will use to bake the loaf / cake in. This recipe will fit into a standard loaf pan but I used a nice 8×8 square pan instead. Set your oven to 350º and let the bananas come to temp in the oven and roast while your getting everything else ready. They should be bubbling and browning when they are ready to go (about 15-20 minutes)

In a mixer cream:

1/3 lb of butter

1/2 cup of almond butter

add 5 fresh seeded dates

Once combined scrap down the sided of the bowl and add:

1 cup of organic cane sugar

and 4 eggs (one at a time, scraping bowl once)

1 tbsp vanilla (the real deal)

In a separate bowl sift together:

2 cups of spelt flour

1 cup buckwheat flour

2 tbsp pure cocoa powder

2 tsp bp

1/2 tsp bs

pinch of fine sea salt

In a smaller bowl make the streusel by combining:

1/2 cup of course dark cane sugar

1 tsp cocoa

1 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup of hemp hearts

a tiny pinch of fine sea salt

Remove your bananas from oven and add them into your mixer along with 1/3 of the flour mix. Once combined add 1/2 cup of organic yogurt and another 1/3 of your flour, scrap your bowl down and add the final portion of flour along with another 1/2 cup of yogurt.

Pour 1/2 of the batter into your hot pan, then sprinkle half of the streusel mix over the top, pour the rest of the batter in and cover with the rest of the streusels mixture.

Bake the loaf for 55-60 or a small cake for 40-45 minutes; these would bake off as mini loafs of muffins in 20-25 minutes.